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Taking It Home

Say not 'I have found the truth,' but rather 'I have found a truth.' — Khalil Gibran, from The Prophet

IN TODAY'S SESSION... the participants heard a story about three sons who were given the challenge of filling an entire house. The two older brothers brought in lots of large objects and were still unable to fill the house. Then, the youngest brother brought in a candle, lit it, and filled the house with light. This story about considering different perspectives complemented the group's experiences viewing objects from different angles and rewriting a classic tale from a fresh viewpoint of one of the characters.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about... how you used to think about things differently than you do now and what helped you gain a different perspective. Or, tell about a time when you and another person held conflicting perspectives about an issue or idea and how your different perspectives affected your interaction. Share what you think it means when we say our fourth Principle is "the free and responsible search for truth and meaning."

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try... retelling a favorite or classic fairy tale from a different point of view (the novel and Broadway musical, Wicked, does this beautifully). Or, share a family story you all know, from multiple perspectives—each of your own, or those of made-up characters. Talk about how changing the perspective changes the story. Is the story still true? Why or why not?

Family Discovery. Explore optical illusions together by looking at images on 1, 2, 3 Optical Illusions, Optillusions, Skytopia, Cool Optical Illusions, and other websites. Most libraries have illustrated books of optical illusions; you can purchase Magic Eye books online. If you have an old stereopticon or a modern, plastic stereo viewing toy, examine it together to figure out the perspective shift which reveals 3-D pictures. The Eye Tricks and Magic Eye websites also show some stereograms.